Lawmakers Press for Air-Collision Alert Devices

A House panel on Thursday opened an investigation into aircraft collisions, amid questions of why it has taken 30 years and the loss of scores of lives to develop a collision-avoidance system for commercial airplanes.

“Air travelers have a right to ask why it takes a midair tragedy and loss of life in order to goad the guardians of air safety into action,” Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.) said.

Oberstar, chairman of the House Public Works and Transportation subcommittee, said that the Aug. 31 collision of an Aeromexico DC-9 and a small private plane over Cerritos, Calif., which killed at least 80 people, might have been prevented if the two aircraft had been equipped with devices to alert the pilots to the dangerous proximity of another plane.

Work on such a collision-avoidance system has been under way since the mid-1950s. The Federal Aviation Administration has spent millions of dollars on its development, and it now appears to be ready.

Phase-in Schedule Told

Last Friday, FAA Administrator Donald D. Engen announced that the agency will order airlines to equip larger planes with collision-avoidance devices by 1989.

Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) said that “inaction of the FAA on this issue is nothing short of disgraceful.” He said that collision-avoidance technology has existed for more than 10 years.

Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad) said that all commercial aircraft should be equipped with the system as soon as possible. Packard’s hometown, San Diego, was the site of an air collision eight years ago that killed 144 people.

“We must ask ourselves how many lives could have been saved if one of these earlier systems had been used,” he said.

Device Ready for Testing

Herbert McClure, an associate director of the General Accounting Office, testified that it now appears that the known technical problems with the system have been solved.

“Testing the system in an operational environment and certification are all that remain before at least one model . . . can be commercially produced,” he said.

The device, which can warn a pilot of an impending collision and advise whether to descend or ascend to avoid it, is expected to cost between $50,000 and $75,000.

Air Line Pilots Assn. President Henry Duffy released a survey Thursday showing that the nation’s commercial pilots regard in-flight collisions as the single greatest danger in flying.